4545. CONCERNING THE HELLS. Sometimes evil spirits are let down into the hells and led about, and thence are shown, as to their quality, to the angels. At first, they are led according to their cupidities [derived] from the natural life in the world. I saw this on two occasions: the two [spirits led about] were known by me, in the life of the body, and were then held in respect. Thence I was also instructed, what is the situation of the hells. The hells are under the earth,* beneath the left foot: in front of this foot are the adulterers; and the deeper you descend, the more wicked and abominable the adulterers are. Under the right foot are cruel adulterers. A little in front, are robbers and flagitious spirits; and the deeper you go the more flagitious they are. They dwell there in dusky and excrementitious caverns. This [region] extends for quite a considerable distance. Still more in front, for a great distance, are profane spirits, especially towards the right there, where there is a dark cloud in which they are enveloped. * The earth here mentioned is not the natural earth, on which we live, but the earth of the spiritual world, which constitutes the lower part of the world of spirits - that is, the part of the world of spirits nearest to, and most closely associated with, hell.